I'm a safari tart in the best possible sense of the word. I write reviews, books +articles about safari lodges & other gr8 places. Somebody's got to do it!
Abu Camp, Okavango - new baby elephant

Abu Camp, Okavango – new baby elephant

IT’S A GIRL! Abu Camp, best known as one of the first elephant back riding safari lodges, deep in the Okavango Delta, has had a new arrival. Shireni, one of the Camp’s leading matriach’s, gave birth to her third living calf at ten in the evening on 17 December 2011. Measuring approximately 90cm...
World Rhino Day

World Rhino Day

Further to my previous post, ABSA the male rhino at Aquila Game Reserve near Cape Town died from his injuries. Today is World Rhino Day, yet every day a rhino is killed in Africa.
De Hoop Nature Reserve, east of Cape Town

De Hoop Nature Reserve, east of Cape Town

Known more for some of the best land-based whale watching than food, this weekend of indulgent Culinary Creativity  at De Hoop Nature Reserve  (22-24 July 2011) seemed tempting. When a food expert declares that “Chocolate and wine are essential in all food plans”, can anybody resist? The De Hoop collection has taken...
India House, Bains Kloof Pass, nr Cape Town

India House, Bains Kloof Pass, nr Cape Town

I love it when I find a real gem of a place when I least expect it. That is what happened at India House. I went to assess Bastiaanskloof for star grading and found that part of their accommodation was a divine villa called India House in the middle of...
Art Safari; Namibia & Botswana

Art Safari; Namibia & Botswana

If I had the merest hint of artistic talent I would go on the next Art Safari in Namibia in April 2011, closely followed by Botswana in May. Don’t you just love these two pictures of artworks done by students on an Art Safari tour? I would love to be...
UGANDA; Gorillas, Chimps  & tree-climbing Lions

UGANDA; Gorillas, Chimps & tree-climbing Lions

                    Uganda doesn’t get talked about that much when it comes to safari and most people don’t even know it’s got much more than gorillas. In a country the size of UK, there’s so much more……. including: a whopping 1000 species...
Dancing With Dolphins in Mozambique

Dancing With Dolphins in Mozambique

Courtney Ward has been “dancing with dolphins” for ten years in the warm waters of southern Mozambique at Ponta Malongane. People say she is part dolphin and you can believe it when you see her gliding through the water like a mermaid with her mono-fin.   Dolphins crowd around her...
Samara Private Game Reserve

Samara Private Game Reserve

I have been going on safari in Africa every year for 15 years, yet it was at Samara Private Game Reserve, in the middle of nowhere in the Graaff-Reinet Karoo, that I found the possibility of two elements of a safari that had so far eluded me; a yoga mat and...
Southern Africa Yoga Safaris

Southern Africa Yoga Safaris

In a hidden location amongst giant sandstone rocks on the West Coast of South Africa near Eland’s Bay, Southern African Yoga Safaris makes use of a rocky retreat for a getaway with a difference. While doing your ‘Salute to the Sun’ or Tree Posture, you stare out and may meet...
Tuningi Safari Lodge

Tuningi Safari Lodge

Look who joined the afternoon picnic at Tuningi Safari lodge!   These curious young lions came to investigate as guests from Tuningi Safari Lodge enjoyed their sundowner game drive drinks & snacks in the Madikwe Game Reserve. 
Bushman's Kloof Wilderness Reserve

Bushman’s Kloof Wilderness Reserve

‘Number One Hotel in the World’ according to 2009 US Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards reader’s survey. What an accolade!  This 5-star wilderness resort in the foothills of the Cederberg Mountains is one of my favourite places with a landscape like no other only 270km from Cape Town.
Garden Route Game Lodge

Garden Route Game Lodge

I was really impressed with Garden Route Game Lodge.  It is of course ‘soft safari’, as are all the game reserves in the Western Cape.  It is because this populated region doesn’t have tracts of spare land the size of small European countries - like Kruger Park - in which the largest...
Singita Lebombo Safari Lodge

Singita Lebombo Safari Lodge

I wouldn’t mind going to Heaven if it was like Singita Lebombo. I have been here once before (Lebombo, not Heaven) but this visit had a more profound effect on me. The subtle change in décor, from touches of lime green and grey amongst a sea of white, to a...
Safari Tart meets South Africa's Greats

Safari Tart meets South Africa’s Greats

I arrived in Africa from London in 1995 and in that time I’ve been lucky enough to meet two great icons of world history; Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela. Both are my heroes whom I hold in the very highest regard above all others. It was never my goal to meet them, I...
Elephants march through Mfuwe Lodge

Elephants march through Mfuwe Lodge

  The 18-room Mfuwe Lodge has a large reception area particularly suited to wandering elephants. Their favourite mango trees are just on the other side of the building and they see no reason why they shouldn’t take the direct route straight through the lodge! 
Makanyane Safari Lodge

Makanyane Safari Lodge

My first introduction to Makanyane Safari Lodge was a face to face meeting with an elephant at the door of my cottage. “I’ll just go and shoo him away, said the lodge manager, Garth Kew. So he walked towards said elephant and shouted “Shoo!”  Elephant ignored him, so Garth ran...
Lion Eats Car

Lion Eats Car

  If you ever thought lions look like large pussy cats, take a look at these photos taken by a holidaymaker in the Krugersdorp area of South Africa.
Lion Sands Ivory Lodge

Lion Sands Ivory Lodge

You may think that a safari lodge decorated in no other colours than black and white (and variations from rich creams to deep brown), could be monotone. But it’s not. Lion Sands Ivory Lodge in the Lion Sands Private Game Reserve adjacent to Kruger National Park, uses shades and textures...
Twyfelfontein Country Lodge & Opuwo Country Hotel

Twyfelfontein Country Lodge & Opuwo Country Hotel

Damaraland, Namibia Not many places make your jaw drop in amazement, or make you want to utter a lazily drawn-out expletive, because no other suitable word comes to mind. But Twyfelfontein Country Lodge did just that. This immense thatched lodge, in the heart of red-rock country in the middle of...
Royal Malewane, Thornybush Reserve

Royal Malewane, Thornybush Reserve

When people mention Royal Malewane, they use the kind of hushed tones often reserved for someone held in high regard. This is because Royal Malewane seems to have effortlessly created a safari lodge at the pinnacle of taste, within the boundaries of timeless, classic elegance. Simply put, it epitomizes all...
Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe

Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe

“Can you come to Lake Kariba on Thursday for a week?”, said a friendly voice. “I know it’s Monday today but I have space for one more person on my houseboat going down the length of Lake Kariba.” My initial reaction was that I couldn’t get organised in three days,...
Hippo Lodge, Kafue National Park, Zambia - The Cherry on the Safari Cake

Hippo Lodge, Kafue National Park, Zambia – The Cherry on the Safari Cake

Just when I thought life on safari couldn’t get any better, it did. It was my birthday and I was sitting in a bubbling hot spring on the edge of the Kafue River in Zambia. Fireflies were dancing around my head and a fellow journalist on this press trip –...
Plains Camp, Platforms Sleepout and Rhino Post Lodge: walking & 4x4

Plains Camp, Platforms Sleepout and Rhino Post Lodge: walking & 4×4

On a private concession inside Kruger National Park…. Rhino Walking Safaris have, in my opinion, got it right. They have a variety of safari experiences in their three accommodation options; Rhino Post Lodge, Plains Camp and Platforms – a multi-level large wooden sleepout platform in the middle of nowhere, where...
Horseriding in Okavango Delta

Horseriding in Okavango Delta

  This is no ordinary horse ride! Novice riders need not apply; experience and a high level of in-the-saddle competence is a pre-requisite for this adventure with African Horseback Safaris. You have to handle horses that are fit and raring-to-go, as well possible encounters with big game of the Okavango Delta like...
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Sibuya Game Lodge, nr Port Elizabeth

Sibuya Game Lodge, nr Port Elizabeth

  This privately owned reserve up the Kariega River from Kenton-on-Sea in the Eastern Cape is the Garden of Eden. It has all the components of nature that make you want to weep at its beauty, marvel at the perfect animal specimens all fat and glossy coats, and sink into the sophoric rhythm of the river, in/on which...
Ocean Safari on MSC Sinfonia; Durban to Mozambique

Ocean Safari on MSC Sinfonia; Durban to Mozambique

Cruising the South Africa coast is the fastest growing holiday excursion for South African residents and I was invited aboard the MSC Sinfonia for the 4-night return trip from Durban to Bazaruto Island off the coast of Mozambique. There was a whole media contingent and we all got to bring our partners and were accommodated...
Goodbye to the Governor of Governor's Camps, Kenya

Goodbye to the Governor of Governor’s Camps, Kenya

ARIS LEONIDAS GRAMMATICAS 20/05/1938 – 15/10/2011     It is with heavy hearts that the Grammaticas family has to inform you of the passing away of our beloved Aris. After a long and extraordinary life Aris slipped away peacefully at home in Ololua, Karen, surrounded by the family he loved so much. Aris will be...
World Responsible Tourism Awards: Robin Pope Safaris

World Responsible Tourism Awards: Robin Pope Safaris

  Robin Pope Safaris operating in Zambia and Malawi have won two special awards at the World Responsible Tourism Day at World Travel Market (WTM) in London. They were awarded joint Overall Winner of the Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards plus winner in the poverty Reduction category as well. This is a great achievement as there...
Antelope Attacks Biker

Antelope Attacks Biker

        Right time right place for the helmet-mounted camera, but wrong place wrong time for this mountain biker on a race in a wildlife park in KwaZulu Natal. See this extraordinary footge: http://youtu.be/S2oymHHyV1M
Rhino Poaching: I am in tears

Rhino Poaching: I am in tears

I can’t begin to tell you how upset I am about the rampant rhino poaching happening in South Africa. This week it’s come very close to home when three rhinos were attacked at Aquila Private Game Reserve just a couple of hours’ drive north of Cape Town. Then last night another three rhinos were found dead in a...

Travel Gurus e-zine

        It’s always good to see something new and appealing on the internet, and that’s what Caroline Hurry and Kathy Whitehead have done with their new website; Travel Gurus. It’s an e-zine that features opinion from travel journalists, industry players and opinionated others (the likes of yours truly), along with destination pieces,...

Rhino Poaching SOS

In 2009, 122 rhino were butchered for their horns in South Africa. In 2010 this figure nearly tripled and this upward trend shows no sign of slowing in 2011. Amongst others, Mahlatini wish to raise the profile of the rhinos’ delicate situation and help gain supporters for the struggle against the rhino poachers. Help Mahlatini by entering...

Bumbusi Camp, Hwange, Zimbabwe

Hwange is Zimbabwe’s largest National Park. It is wonderfully wild with no shortage of elephant. I once had a very close encounter with a charging elephant at a waterhole in Hwange;  a mock charge but what did I know, I was new to Africa and didn’t have a clue what to do. Luckily, I was...

Tshukudu Game Lodge – sad loss

Death of Tshukudu Game Lodge Founder and Son   I am very sorry to announce that the founder of Tshukudu Game Lodge in Limpopo, Ala Sussens and her son Ian Sussens were killed in a car accident on 6 April 2010. Ala was a safari doyenne, one who cared deeply for animals and was known...

Tortoises & Tumbleweeds cookbook by Lannice Synman

    The moment I got my copy of Lannice’s new foodie book, ‘ Tortoises & Tumbleweeds – A Journey Through an African Kitchen’  I flicked through it for ideas of what to cook that night.          

Buffalo Ridge Safari Lodge

  Guests at Buffalo Ridge Safari Lodge had a surprise visit from an opportunistic elephant, who simply couldn’t resist the cool, crystal clear, swimming pool water on a hot spring day in Madikwe Game Reserve.    Photographed by 18 year old Tom Rudolphie of The Netherlands.        Buffalo Ridge is a community owned...